Patently, no new invention is silly

A new exhibition is set to showcase unusual and bizarre contraptions, including a pillow on which you can write messages at night

Levi Roots has had huge success with his Reggae Reggae Sauce (Jon Enoch)

A pillow you can write messages on, a sun umbrella for your book and a
mirrored dish that makes dinner look twice as big. These might be the sort
of inventions that would prompt withering contempt from the Dragons’ Den
panel, but they are just some of the ideas being unveiled this week in
London.

The Barcelona Ideas and Inventions Museum was set up earlier this year by Pep
Torres, a prolific Spanish inventor, to encourage the belief that “there is
no such thing as a silly idea”.

He is bringing a string of his own inventions, as well as those of other young
inventors, to the British Invention Show taking place at Old Spitalfields
Market in east London from Wednesday.

A dish divided in half by a moon-shaped mirror is inspired by the notion that
people tend to eat more than they actually need because the food is on